Smoked like black pepper sausage, freshman basketball teams across the district are left scratching their heads wondering how to stump Jesuit’s star freshman team.
At WT White, Jesuit gave the Longhorns no quarter, serving up a 72-17 win. When Berkner and Richardson visited, Jesuit made a strong showing in two closer games, pulling off a 43-38 win against Berkner and a 68-42 win against Richardson.
In one final match-up for the last game of the season, Freshman Gold took a trip to Skyline and won 57-45, ending an intense season with consecutive wins over the course of an entire month. They came out of the gate strong and they finished strong, racking up a six game winning streak in the last parts of January and all of February. Their abundant success, however, begs a question: how have they managed such a great season?
The Roundup spoke with Dr. Todd Gruninger, Jesuit science teacher and Freshman Gold basketball head coach, regarding his confidence in the team and his thoughts on their performance. Doctor Gruninger recounted one game in particular that stuck out to him, a match-up against Lake Highlands in late January. He affirms that “Lake Highlands was probably our biggest win. They wanted to beat us really bad, but we had a good comeback.” Jesuit was able to stop the momentum that Lake Highlands had gained, and they turned the game around, no easy feat.
In general, Doctor Gruninger commented positively on their cohesion as a group. He said that, rather than operating as individuals looking to make plays, “they play together, they started to figure each other out.” The players contribute a level of selflessness that forms a well-oiled machine. Additionally, Doctor Gruninger feels no reluctance to commend the talent of his center position players, relieved that he had “two [centers] he could play the whole time.”
With both talent and cohesion hand-in-hand, the future seems bright for the future of Jesuit basketball.
